My family loves to travel, and we traveled a ton this summer. Over the course of ten weeks, we took two airplane trips and four road trips. I’ve already blogged about the airplane activities we did with Buddy here.
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We did two big road trips (6 hours and 7.5 hours) and two small road trips (3 hours each) this summer. For all of the road trips, I set up a shoebox of activities, and I tied it to Buddy’s car seat. I always bring an empty reusable grocery sack in the car so that our toys can come into our destination to entertain Buddy. For the longer trips, I throw a few extra activities in the bag that can be handed back to Buddy as needed.
Here are the things I packed to entertain Buddy on our road trips:
Little people Disney characters and animals – Buddy loves playing with little characters, and he’s lately been very into his Disney ones.
Little Look and Find books – Buddy’s loved look and finds for a long time. I bought a set of four mini look and find books, and we only use them for road trips. They are my favorite thing to bring because they keep him entertained for a long time.
Small board books – The board books at the dollar store are great because they are slim, but still sturdy. We also have this Thomas the train set of four board books and they are the perfect size for travel.
Water Wow – These are reusable paint with water books that are no mess, and dry clear so they can be used again. There is also a look and find aspect to them. We have a bunch, and they are great!
Reusable Stickers – This Melissa and Doug Pet Shop Puffy Sticker Book lives in our diaper bag, and it’s amazing! The puffy stickers are easy for Buddy to peel on his own, and there are a ton of pages to choose to put the animals. Best of all, it’s reusable! We also like Colorforms, which are flat reusable vinyl stickers and can often be found at the dollar store.
Dinosaurs – We always bring a ziplock bag with a few small dinosaurs with us when we travel. Originally, we just used a set from the dollar store. But Buddy got this set last Easter, and they’re much nicer.
Thomas Mini Trains – Buddy has loved Thomas the Train for a long time, and that doesn’t seem to be changing any time soon. The minis are awesome because every set comes with a lot of trains. We have a bunch, and we take 4-5 with us on all of our trips.
Cars – Buddy loves cars, and there are always a ton of great ones at the dollar store. We have a Lightning McQueen car that travels with us often. Buddy got this pull back set of cars in his Easter eggs last year, and we always have them in our diaper bag. (I even have one in my purse!)
Planes – Yes, we need a variety of vehicles wherever we go. I actually would love to get some smaller travel friendly ones, because Buddy is really into planes right now. This set of small planes looks great for travel.
Nuts and Bolts – We have a toddler nuts and bolts set, and I usually just toss a couple in our car box. It’s a different type of activity from “playing pretend” that Buddy does with his cars or animals.
Magnadoodle – We have this Doodle Pro that we love. When we left it behind at my dad’s house, we bought one from the dollar store, which also works well.
Follow Me Finger Maze book – I came across this book a week before our longest car trip, and I bought it because it looked like something that would entertain him for a long time. I’m so glad I did. It’s not a small book, but it is great to put in the big bag to pass back. It is a board book with grooved paths where an animal goes through different setting (city, forest, ocean, etc.). Buddy asked his Nana to read this book over and over when we were visiting her. There is a world version and holiday versions of this book, and I’m definitely tempted to get another one.
Small stuffed animals – We love Teeny Tys for travel sized animal fun.
Magnets and tin – We have brought a cake pan and magnets for long road trips in the past. This summer, we used a small metal tin with some magnetic letters in it. (Read more about our magnetic letter busy bag here.)
Duplos – Buddy loves his Duplos so much he tried to smuggle them in both Hubby and my suitcases on one of our summer trips. For some of our trips, I brought specific ones so they will make the pictures in our Duplo Busy Bag (read more and get the free printable here). And for some trips, I just gave Buddy a ziplock and let him throw some blocks in.
Happy meal toys
Busy bags – I have some sewing cards from the dollar store and popsicle sticks with velcro dots on the end that I put in a bag. I have also done crazy straws with felt squares to push onto it.
Travel binder with crayons and stickers – This is another one that I have to pass back on longer trips. I love puffy stickers from the dollar store because they are easy for Buddy to put on himself.
Custom photo books – Buddy is really into planes, and since Hubby works for an airline, he knows a lot about planes. Hubby put together two photo albums worth of planes and airlines pictures with information about each one. He made them in Power Point and saved them as jpegs. I had them printed at Walgreens and put them in cheap, flexible photo albums. But you could make one about anything your child is interested in. I plan to do another one with pictures and autographs after we go to Disney World.
Kindle and headphones – We love the Kindle Fire for long car trips and for traveling in the dark. Buddy has these Kidz Gear headphones and likes them a lot.
Buddy loves playing games, so I’m going to link our favorite travel games here. We actually don’t play them in the car because I get car sick if I’m in the backseat or turning around too much. However, they would be great in the car for other families. We play them on planes and take them with us to play at our destination on road trips.
We also bring a ton of snacks on road trips, and they help a lot as well. I let Buddy help pick the snacks for our longest car trip, and his choices surprised me a bit (grapes and fruit snacks). It was great having things he liked it in the car to help us get through to our next stop.
We have three more road trips coming up in the next two months. Can you think of anything we should bring with us? Please share in comments if you have ideas.
